


Cheating Blackmail

by East02End



Category: EastEnders
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27244267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/East02End/pseuds/East02End
Summary: I don’t know what this is, and I can guarantee 100% that it won’t go like this, even though I’d like it to somewhat :)Anyways, this is my take on Callum telling Ben about Thompson :)It’s really rather bad :))
Relationships: Ben Mitchell/Callum Highway
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Cheating Blackmail

Ben walked in the through the back door, placing his keys on the counter. 

He held the door handle to the living room, halting hearing Callum’s raised voice. 

“I won’t do it anymore!”

Ben frowned, taking his hand away from the handle. 

“I CAN’T! You don’t realise how much I have lied to do this! Where I am, the excuses, why I’m late all the time? I can’t do it anymore...”

Ben shook his head trying to get all these thoughts running through his head out of his mind. There must be a simple explanation.

“I can’t lie there next to him night, knowing what I’m doing everyday! If he finds out it’s gonna kill him!”

Ben swung the door open, Callum spinning round, his eyes widening. 

“Ben! Erm-“

“Are you- cheating on me??” Both of them hearing the crack in his voice. 

“No! God, no. I just-“

“Who was that then?” Ben nodded to Callum’s phone. 

“Work.” 

“Oh come on, Callum! You’ve got to do better than that? It’s always work!”

“It is! I swear!”

Ben shook his head, not wanting to believe that it was true. 

“I heard what you said, Callum. Just stop lying to me...”

“How long-“

“Was I standing there??” He finished for him. “Long enough.”

“Ben...” Ben sank down onto the sofa, running his hands through his hair. “I swear I didn’t want to do this to you. You’ve got to believe me.”

Ben snapped his head up, glaring at Callum. “Didn’t want to?? Usually takes two people to cheat, Callum?!”

“What?” Callum groaned, sitting down next to Ben. “I am not cheating on you?! I swear on my life, Lexi’s life?!”

“Don’t you dare bring her into this!” Ben seethed. 

“I’m not seeing anyone else!” Callum held Ben’s face in his hands, turning his head so he would look at him. 

“Get off me!” Ben tried to move his head but Callum held on, stronger than him. 

“Just listen to me, Ben! I am NOT seeing anyone else, sleeping with anyone else, cheating on you, whatever you want. I love YOU.”

Ben stopped struggling, looking into Callum’s eyes, trying to work if he was lying or not. 

“I promise...” Callum whispered. Ben nodded slowly knowing he wasn’t lying about this. 

“Is it work? Really?”

“Yes!”

“Then why can’t you tell me then?”

“I can’t, Ben, I can’t...”

Ben pulled Callum’s hands from his face, standing up. 

“I would if it wasn’t like this, but you don’t need to know.”

Ben frowned, watching Callum groan, burying his head in his hands. 

“You’ve been weird for weeks, Callum, months even.”

“I’m just stressed at work, Ben! Just drop it will you!” He snapped. 

Callum sighed seeing Ben’s face drop. 

“I’m sorry, I just- You don’t understand...”

“Then let me. Don’t shut me out...”

Ben sat back down slowly next to Callum, trying to get him to open up to him. 

“Please, Cal. What don’t you want to do anymore? What’s so bad that you think it’s gonna ‘kill’ me?”

Callum looked up at Ben, waiting for him. 

“You heard that?”

Ben simply nodded, taking Callum’s hands. 

Neither said anything for a while, Callum searching Ben’s eyes, before he finally spoke. 

“I can’t lie to you anymore, Ben... Your gonna hate me. I hate me... I’m so sorry...”

He could feel Callum’s hands shaking in his own. 

“I didn’t do it to hurt you I swear. I only did it cos he said he’d make it go away if I did this for him. I didn’t want to lose you, Ben, but now I will anyway!”

“Woah, just slow down a second. Make what go away?”

“CCTV...”

“For what? Just slow down and breathe. I need you to explain.”

“For that warehouse job.”

Ben frowned, trying to read Callum’s face. 

“I thought you got rid of that?”

“I tried. I couldn’t...”

Callum looked at Ben, trying to piece it together. 

“So your boss, Thompson right?, wanted to keep the CCTV? For what?”

“You, Phil...”

“Dad? I ent following Callum??”

“It was the only way to keep you!”

“Please, just explain it all to me, I can’t process everything if your giving me odd bits?”

Callum looked at his lap, Ben still holding onto his hands, stroking his thumbs lightly across them. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to keep this moment in his head, just knowing Ben was going to hate him afterwards. 

“I tried to get rid of the CCTV, before anyone else found it. But Thompson managed to get ahold of it. It was so easy to work out it was you? And I couldn’t do anything to stop him from getting you sent down. I couldn’t lose you, Ben...”

Ben wiped a tear away from Callum’s cheek, looking up at Ben. 

“He knew I’d do anything... So he swore to me that you’d be kept out of it, if I got something on Phil.”

“Wait, Dad?”

Callum nodded slowly, carrying on. There was no point lying anymore. 

“At first he just wanted me to find something that could get him inside, he’s been wanting him for years, but then he made me put a recorder in the Arches, made me wear a wire, then it all just got worse when he had me on tape-“

Ben shook his head, trying to make sense of it all, dropping Callum’s hands. 

“Wait, so you thought you trade my dad for me?”

“I didn’t know what else to do, Ben?!”

“You could have said no?!”

“And what about you?! This was the only way to keep you out of prison?!”

Ben stood up, pacing from one side of the room to the other.

“A wire? The Arches? You were spying on us too?”

Ben spun around, watching Callum. 

“Are you wearing it now?!”

“No! It wasn’t like that! I swear I only wore it for a bit, but I couldn’t do it anymore-“

“You mean you didn’t want me to find it!”

“No! Cos I hated lying to you, Ben! I didn’t wear it that long, I swear!”

Ben ignored him, still pacing. 

“Dad trusted you?! He asked you to work for the family! He never does that? He sees you as his son, Callum?! And here you are doing this to us!”

“I know, but I swear I did want to help with Raymond and everything. I haven’t got anything anyway-“

“That’s not the point!”

“I know!! I just couldn’t do it anymore. He’s your dad, Ben and I can’t lie to you anymore!”

Ben groaned, running his hands through his hair, trying to make sense of it all.

“And what’s this about you on tape?”

“He’s got me assaulting Danny Hardcastle on tape from the the Arches...”

“Nonono! Callum! Why would you do that?!”

“He threatened to run you over! I just flipped...”

“The wedding...” Ben whispered to himself, looking up at Callum. “You were late! And you had blood on your shirt, that was then wasn’t it? You did that cos he threatened me?” Ben’s face dropped, realising that Callum was trying to protect him.

Callum nodded still staring at his lap. 

Ben sat down, taking Callum’s face in his hands, lifting his head up slightly. 

“This isn’t you, Cal?” 

Callum looked at him, his voice sounding so soft, his initial anger melting away.

“I’m so sorry, Ben! I didn’t know what to do! I don’t know what to do?! I’m sorry, I’m really sorry for everything!”

“I know.” He pulled Callum to him, fully crying into his neck. Ben had never seen him get like this before. “I know you are. You were doing what you had too. This isn’t your fault.”

“Yes it is! I lied to you.”

“Your being blackmailed, Cal?”

“I know, but I can’t do anything about it...”

Ben laced his hand through Callum’s hair, trying to calm him down. 

“You got yourself into this mess for me. You’ve done all this for me. Everything you’ve done is for me. I knew I’d ruin you eventually.”

Callum lifted his head up quickly looking at Ben. 

“You haven’t! I just wanted you to be safe.” Callum buried his head back in Ben’s neck, breathing him in. “I thought you were gonna hate me.”

“Yeah, I’m shocked but you were putting me first before yourself. Nobody’s ever done that. You lied to protect me. Everything was for me...”

“What about Phil? He trusts me...”

“You haven’t actually got anything. He doesn’t need to know.”

“But then you’ll be lying to your dad?”

“I’ll work it out.”

“Thank you for understanding. For everything.” Callum whispered. 

Ben kissed Callum’s head, rubbing down his back. “I should be thanking you really, for everything you’ve done for me.”

“I can’t lose you...”

“I’m gonna help you, okay? I don’t know how yet, but I promise I’m gonna get you out of this mess.”


End file.
